51st State Solar Co-op Volunteer Toolkit

Thank you for helping us spread the word about the 51st State Solar Co-op, open to all District homeowners regardless of their neighborhood or income level. Please use the below toolkit to let your community know about the Solar Co-op at a community meeting, on social media, or via your favorite listserv! If you’re interested in taking in of these actions, or if you have any questions about how to use this toolkit or how you can help us spread the word, please contact us at DCTeam@SolarUnitedNeighbors.org.

51st State Solar Co-op Round 2

Join our first solar co-op with grants available through the District's Solar for All program to cover the costs of solar installations for income-qualified participants.

Sample Facebook Post

Solar United Neighbors of D.C. helped me go solar. If you’re interested in going solar too, they just launched the new 51st State Solar Co-op, open to all District homeowners interested in going solar with a group. And, thanks to the D.C. Department of Energy & Environment’s #solar4allDC program, qualified low- and moderate-income homeowners can receive financial support! If you’re interested in learning more, sign up here: https://www.solarunitedneighbors.org/51stState

Table at a Farmers Market

Connect with farmers market attendees about solar, share information about our 51st state solar co-op with grant funding for income-qualified homeowners, and help build our list of solar supporters in D.C. If you’re interested in tabling at any of the following farmers markets, please email DCTeam@SolarUnitedNeighbors.org.

Community Presentation

Community meetings are a great way to spread the word about this phenomenal opportunity for low- and moderate-income households to go solar with help from Solar United Neighbors and the Department of Energy and Environment (DOEE). Below are talking points that can be used for a presentation at your local community meeting. You can also use the flier included in this toolkit to provide printed materials for those interested in learning more.

Talking points

Please feel free to tailor these talking points as you see fit. Presentations are most effective when your story as a solar homeowner or supporter is front and center.

I am here tonight to talk about Solar United Neighbors of D.C. and their latest solar co-op, the 51st State Solar Co-op which is funded in part by Solar for All, a program of the Department of Energy and the Environment.

Solar United Neighbors of D.C. (formerly DC SUN) was founded in Mt. Pleasant and has helped nearly 500 homeowners in the District go solar over the past decade as part of its solar co-ops.

A solar co-op is a group of homeowners that comes together to go solar and leverage the power of bulk purchasing to get a discount.

If you are a solar homeowner: Solar United Neighbors helped me go solar in [year].

[Tell your story on what solar means to you and how Solar United Neighbors helped you].

Solar for All is a program of the District of Columbia’s Department of Energy and Environment (DOEE) that seeks to provide the benefits of solar electricity to 100,000 low-income households and reduce their energy bills by 50% by 2032.

Solar United Neighbors of D.C. was awarded a 2 million grant under Solar for All. During the next 18-21 months, they will be working on establishing these solar co-ops throughout the District. The co-ops will be open to all District homeowners, but qualified low-income homeowners will have their systems installed at no cost to them. The family would own the system from day one. A family is considered low-income if the combined household income does not exceed 80% of Area Median Income (AMI). For a family of 4 that would mean household income cannot exceed $75,050 a year.

I believe that Solar for All is an exciting program and I’m glad that Solar United Neighbors is one of the grantees. All District homeowners should be able to benefit from going solar. The 51st State Solar Co-op is currently open for registration, and further rounds of solar co-ops will open in the next several months.

Sample Listserv Email

Hi everyone,

I wanted to let my neighbors know about a great opportunity to go solar currently open to all District homeowners—regardless of neighborhood or income level. Solar United Neighbors of D.C., a locally-based nonprofit organization that has helped nearly 500 District homeowners go solar over the past decade, recently launched their new 51st State Solar Co-op. Solar co-ops allow a group of homeowners to join together to go solar, while benefiting from the technical support of Solar United Neighbors experts and leveraging the power of bulk purchasing to get a discount.

The 51st State Solar Co-op is funded in part by Solar for All, a program of the Department of Energy & Environment (DOEE) that seeks to provide the benefits of solar electricity to 100,000 low-income households and reduce their energy bills by 50% by 2032. While the co-op is open to all District homeowners, this means that qualified low- and moderate-income homeowners will have their systems installed at no cost to them while still owning their system from day one. A family is considered low-income if the combined household income does not exceed 80% of area median income (AMI). For a family of four, that means household income can’t exceed $75,050 a year.